Strawberry and Coconut Loaf

I found this recipe when I was looking for a way to use up some squishy strawberries. It's delicious and it comes from this website www.beerenberg.com.au

* 1 punnet of strawberries
* 1 1/2 cups plain flour
* 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
* 3/4 cup caster sugar
* 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 tsp vanilla essence
* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 3/4 cup buttermilk

Method: 1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line the base of a 30 x 15cm loaf tin.
2. Puree strawberries in a food processor.
3. Sift flour and bicarbonate into a large bowl along with a pinch of salt. Stir through caster sugar and coconut.
4. Mix together eggs, vanilla essence, olive oil and buttermilk. Make a well in the centre of the sifted ingredients. Mix until mixture comes together. Lightly fold through pureed strawberries (do this by stirring only 2 or 3 times).
5. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
6. Serve sliced, plain or toasted, with a dollop of mascarpone.


I use one of Nigella's  suggestions when a recipe calls for buttermilk,  and simply stir 1tsp of lemon juice into a cup of milk and let it sit 5 mins. Not quite as nice as buttermilk but perfectly adequate.